Hot Knives bloggers Evan George and Alex Brown celebrate Father's Day by reminiscing about their first beer with their dads. They also grill up a vegan "chile" dog, their take on the bacon-wrapped hot dog, and pair it with beer. The Hot Knives videocast their cooking adventures as well.
"Chile" Dogs
- Mushroom-meat Risotto
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 white onion
- 1/2 cup crimini mushrooms
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 cup beer (pale ale)
- 2-1/2 cups vegetable stock
- 2 canned tomatoes, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/2 lbs oyster mushrooms
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 Tablespoons smoked salt
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 chiles, Anaheim or Fresno
- 4 large hot dog buns
1. In a sauce pan, add olive oil and set heat to medium. Finely chop onion and slice mushrooms, and add to the sauce pan. Sauté, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the Arborio rice and stir for a few minutes to toast.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 400°F.
3. While toasting rice, add spices starting with the cumin seeds and fennel seeds so they toast as well. Stir well and continue adding coriander, paprika and cayenne. Add the beer and continue stirring every 30 seconds. Once the beer has completely been absorbed, add vegetable stock in 1/4-cup increments as it absorbs, while stirring. Near the end, add diced canned tomatoes. This should take about 10 minutes.
4. While waiting for risotto to fully cook, roast the oyster mushrooms. Tear large ones into bite-sized pieces and set them on a pan sprayed lightly with oil. Season with smoked salt and black pepper, and roast in oven until deflated and slightly crispy on edges, about 15 minutes.
5. Once risotto rice is sticky and nearly overcooked, remove from heat. In a large bowl, combine roasted mushrooms, chopped red onion, soy sauce and vinegar. Test consistency by making burger-shaped patties. They should hold together well when you toss in the air (careful).
6. Fire-roast the chiles to remove the skin: Prepare an ice bath with 3 cups of water and some ice. Cut off pepper top, gently remove seeds and place pepper on a stove-top burner on high flame. Turn with tongs every minute to evenly blacken each side, then dunk the charred pepper in the ice bath. Wait one minute and scrape off skin with your fingers. Repeat. Your pepper casings are done!
7. Stuff chiles with mushroom-meat risotto: To ensure they won't be too big for the bun, slice off part of the chile by making a lengthwise cut on one side. Stop short of the point so the pepper is one long rectangle with a tip. Put your knife down about 1/2 inch inside the pepper and slice again, removing a half-inch section, making the pepper smaller. Take a full handful of risotto stuffing, and then put half back. With the remaining portion, form a long cylinder, place it into the pepper, and curl it back into its original shape. Pat gently until the mixture sticks to the pepper skin to form an enclosed package.
8. Spray generously with oil before putting on the grill. Keep sliced fold from opening by gently positioning with tongs. Grill about 5-7 minutes or until grill marks are satisfactory. Place in a warm bun, garnish with desired fixings (we liked grain mustard and vegan mayo).
Beverage: Dale's Pale Ale
Soundtrack: Stereolab's Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Music break: Kon-Tiki by The Shadows